Have you been out of work for a while? Perhaps you took time off to raise your children, or maybe it was an illness that meant you had to stop working for a period of time. Perhaps you spent your youth hopping from job to job for various reasons, but your recent stretch of unemployment has lasted longer than it should have.

It might have been the case that due to the recession, there simply were no jobs available when you finished school or college. Since then you could have fallen into a rut, and lost your confidence with getting back into work. There are lots of reasons you could be in this situation, but thankfully there are ways out.

If you’ve been out of work for a while, here are some things you can do to get yourself earning and building up your skills again.

Take any job

If you haven’t worked in some time, what can often be your best bet is to take any job that you can get. It might not be your dream career, or something you want to do for the rest of your life, but it can be useful to take whatever is on offer.

Not only will this get you back into the swing of working, but the old adage is true, it’s easier to find work when you’re in work. Once you have any job, you can go about applying for things you actually want. It might take time to hear back, so at least in the meantime you’re earning money.

While employers for these better jobs are likely to note your gap in employment, if they can see you’re in work now it’s a positive sign and could be what they need to take a chance on you.

Update your resume

If your resume hasn’t been added to in a while, it might be looking a little sorry for itself. But while you shouldn’t lie, you can think creatively about what skills you have acquired while you’ve been unemployed.

If you’ve been caring for children or family members you could note the skills you’ve picked up here. Perhaps you’ve helped out friends on DIY projects, or you might have volunteered. You might have started up a blog or creative hobby while you’ve been out of work which has done well. Think carefully and use these kinds of things to your advantage.

Further your education

One of the best ways to improve your employability will always be to further your education. If you don’t have a degree, studying for one will open the door to many graduate roles.

If you have a degree, furthering this to a masters can help you stand out from other candidates and allow you to apply for higher paid positions. You don’t even need to go back to university full time, thanks to institutions like University of Exeter online programs you can study in your free time around a job.

Attend training days

There are lots of training days, seminars and networking events held across the country on a regular basis. Attending these kinds of things helps to show employers that you’re serious about getting the position and that you’ve been proactive in your approach. Look for training and educational days which are linked to the type of job that you want.

This post has been contributed by Ryan Gatt, it may contain affiliate links